U.S. to boost Philippine defense capability with $500m investment

[Harpy Eagle]

U.S. to boost Philippine defense capability with $500m investment

Hopes for bilateral intelligence-sharing agreement to be finalized by end of 2024

asia.nikkei.com

The U.S. announced on Tuesday an investment of $500 million to finance the Philippines' ongoing defense upgrade program, supporting in part efforts to counter China's maritime aggression in the South China Sea.

The investment was announced at the two-plus-two talks held on Tuesday between the defense and foreign ministers of the Philippines and the U.S. The meeting is the fourth of its kind, but the first to be held in the Philippines, and comes at an opportune time for the country's diplomacy, after similar talks were held with Japan earlier this month.

"We're working with the U.S. Congress to allocate $500 million in foreign military financing into the Philippines," said U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. "This level of funding is unprecedented."

I wonder if Congress will approve it.

 

[shockedcanadian]

U.S. to boost Philippine defense capability with $500m investment

Hopes for bilateral intelligence-sharing agreement to be finalized by end of 2024

asia.nikkei.com

The U.S. announced on Tuesday an investment of $500 million to finance the Philippines' ongoing defense upgrade program, supporting in part efforts to counter China's maritime aggression in the South China Sea.

The investment was announced at the two-plus-two talks held on Tuesday between the defense and foreign ministers of the Philippines and the U.S. The meeting is the fourth of its kind, but the first to be held in the Philippines, and comes at an opportune time for the country's diplomacy, after similar talks were held with Japan earlier this month.

"We're working with the U.S. Congress to allocate $500 million in foreign military financing into the Philippines," said U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. "This level of funding is unprecedented."

I wonder if Congress will approve it.

Japan, Philippines and Australia are going to be critical allies when China attacks Taiwan in the next few years.

This is a wise investment.

 

[cnm]

Japan, Philippines and Australia are going to be critical allies when China attacks Taiwan in the next few years.

This is a wise investment.

Why on earth do you think any of them should give a **** about what China and Taiwan do?

Let Canada enforce US foreign policy goals.

 

[shockedcanadian]

Why on earth do you think any of them should give a **** about what China and Taiwan do?

Let Canada enforce US foreign policy goals.

Get real. What happens in the South China Sea and that part of the world impacts you and all of us more than any other geographical location on earth.

 

[martybegan]

Get real. What happens in the South China Sea and that part of the world impacts you and all of us more than any other geographical location on earth.

Major trade routes, exploitable resources, (oil and Natural Gas), and the Philippines has always been a US ally in the region.

They remember us giving their country back to them from the Japanese.

 

[1srelluc]

Major trade routes, exploitable resources, (oil and Natural Gas), and the Philippines has always been a US ally in the region.

They remember us giving their country back to them from the Japanese.

In December 1991, the two governments were again in talks to extend the withdrawal of American forces for three years but this broke down as the United States refused to detail their withdrawal plans or to answer if nuclear weapons were kept on base. Additionally, the United States offered only one quarter of the $825 million in rent sought by the Filipino Government.[3] Finally on 27 December, President Corazon Aquino, who had previously fought to delay the U.S. pullout to cushion the country's battered economy, issued a formal notice for the U.S. to leave by the end of 1992.[19] Naval Station Subic Bay was the U.S.'s largest overseas defense facility after Clark Air Base was closed.

U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

It reopened in 2022 when the Chi-Com threat emerged.

 

[cnm]

Get real. What happens in the South China Sea and that part of the world impacts you and all of us more than any other geographical location on earth.

I look forward to the sight of Canadian forces implementing US foreign policy goals, eh?

 

[cnm]

They remember us giving their country back to them from the Japanese.

After you took it off them. Then let the Japanese take over.

If you guys couldn't rewrite history in as self serving a way as possible you'd have no history.

Oh.

Right.

 

[Harpy Eagle]

In December 1991, the two governments were again in talks to extend the withdrawal of American forces for three years but this broke down as the United States refused to detail their withdrawal plans or to answer if nuclear weapons were kept on base. Additionally, the United States offered only one quarter of the $825 million in rent sought by the Filipino Government.[3] Finally on 27 December, President Corazon Aquino, who had previously fought to delay the U.S. pullout to cushion the country's battered economy, issued a formal notice for the U.S. to leave by the end of 1992.[19] Naval Station Subic Bay was the U.S.'s largest overseas defense facility after Clark Air Base was closed.

U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

It reopened in 2022 when the Chi-Com threat emerged.

Such good, yet fuzzy, memories of my time at Subic Bay.

 

[1srelluc]

Such good, yet fuzzy, memories of my time at Subic Bay.

 

[martybegan]

In December 1991, the two governments were again in talks to extend the withdrawal of American forces for three years but this broke down as the United States refused to detail their withdrawal plans or to answer if nuclear weapons were kept on base. Additionally, the United States offered only one quarter of the $825 million in rent sought by the Filipino Government.[3] Finally on 27 December, President Corazon Aquino, who had previously fought to delay the U.S. pullout to cushion the country's battered economy, issued a formal notice for the U.S. to leave by the end of 1992.[19] Naval Station Subic Bay was the U.S.'s largest overseas defense facility after Clark Air Base was closed.

U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

It reopened in 2022 when the Chi-Com threat emerged.

And they realized their mistake. There was an overall drawdown of bases after the Soviets went pffffttt, not just in the Philippines.

My grandfather took shrapnel in Mindanao in 44/45, he always was a fan of supporting the Philippines.

 

[martybegan]

After you took it off them. Then let the Japanese take over.

If you guys couldn't rewrite history in as self serving a way as possible you'd have no history.

Oh.

Right.

We took it from the Spanish, then fought the Philippinos, then were in the process of granting them more autonomy and freedom when the Japanese invaded.

And ask any Philippino who was worse, us or the Japanese and you know what answer you will get.

 

[shockedcanadian]

I look forward to the sight of Canadian forces implementing US foreign policy goals, eh?

Take off.eh!

 

[cnm]

We took it from the Spanish, then fought the Philippinos, then were in the process of granting them more autonomy and freedom when the Japanese invaded.

Yeah, right.

Next you'll tell me America is a force for good.

 

[cnm]

Take off.eh!

What? You don't want Canadians dying off Taiwan?

Where's your patriotism, eh?

 

[cnm]

And ask any Philippino who was worse, us or the Japanese and you know what answer you will get.

I'm not sure what the dudes on Mindinao would say to that. They probably wanted to be water boarded though. And the Americans did a better job than the Japanese, you say?
TIL

Waterboarding would make its way to the Philippines through trade and conquest as Spain colonized the islands. And this is where the United States would first begin waterboarding people (not counting prison inmates back home) as early as 1902, during the Philippine-American war. A famous Life magazine cover from that year featured US soldiers stationed in the Philippines torturing people.

It's almost as though you're trying to paper over America's oppression and empire building.
Probably because America has always been a force for good and not self interest, eh?
Tsk.

 

[martybegan]

Yeah, right.

Next you'll tell me America is a force for good.

It's sure a better force than the alternatives.

We leave the world stage, and someone worse will take over. Or a bunch of little worses.

 

[martybegan]

It's almost as though you're trying to paper over America's empire building.
Probably because America has always been a force for good and not self interest, eh?
Tsk.

there is self interest, and then there is what the Russians, Chinese, Nazis and other did.

We are the most benign world "empire" in history, with the Brits a close second.

 

[cnm]

Just in case you don't like drawings...

Soldiers from the 35th US Volunteer Infantry subject a Filipino to the ‘water cure,’ a common ‘enhanced interrogation’ technique employed during the war to pacify the Philippines between 1899 and 1902.

America has used water to torture people for more than a century - The World from PRX

 

[cnm]

It's sure a better force than the alternatives.

Have you asked the Iraqis, Vietnamese and Afghans that, you unbelievably smug fascist?